Gabriel is out for justice!
Film watched: Angels Revenge
The episode is available in the Gizmoplex here
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The Segments:
Prologue- Crow announces to Mike and Servo that he has amnesia, despite his ability to impecably remember everything he's asked. He suggests Mike hit him with a mallet, which he does, but Crow then remembers that he actually had Ambrosia (the 1970s band).
Segment 1
- Mike tries to hammer Crow to stop him from singing, but he keeps missing. Frank and Dr. Forrester have come to the conclusion that 1970s pop culture is a major ratings grab, as the show's own ratings are sharply dropping. To that end, they've dressed up as '70s baseball players Tug McGraw (Tim's dad) and Rollie Fingers. They also slipped additives in the SOL's food supply to turn Mike and the Bots into the cast of Renegade. Their plan is successful at first, but the ratings drop again when Mike and the 'Bots turn back to normal.
Segment 2
- Crow shows off his newest script, a blaxploitation picture he calls Chocolate Jones and the Temple of Funk. Much to everyone else's dismay, it's basically a rehash of Earth vs. Soup with jivey character names.
Segment 3
- Mike does an impression of Fonzie. Crow and Servo promptly destroy him with a cannon. When he returns to the theater, Mike admits that the 'Bots were right to do that.
Segment 4
- The SOL shakes furiously as Aaron Spelling's enormous house flies by. Even the eyecatch shakes.
Segment 5
- Servo shows off his newest invention, the Shame-o-Meter, which he uses to measure the shameful performances of the more recognizable actors in today's film in units known as "Lawfords". The Shame-o-Meter goes crazy when it measures Frank and Dr. Forrester dressed as tennis players Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King.
The MST3K treatment of Angels Revenge provides examples of:
- Acting for Two: In-Universe, though more Acting For Three.Servo: Now I'm confused, am I "Chocolate Jones" or "Sugarfly McQueen"?
Crow: Ah, you’re both. And you’re also reading the part of “Sweet Mama Stringbean” who runs the Boutique De Bouteé. - Afro Asskicker: How Crow casts Gypsy in his Blaxploitation flick.Gypsy: I don't have any lines.
Crow: But you get to wear slinky dresses and carry guns and stuff!
Gypsy: Not this sister! [leaves] - The Alcoholic: The crew have a lot of fun with Peter Lawford's obvious drunkenness.Servo: [drunkenly] If you're going to wake me up this early, you better expect me to drink.
- Believing Their Own Lies: Trish seems to believe that the seven are immune to being killed by bullets.Trish: [after being shot] Don't worry, a bullet can't kill one of the seven!Crow: She is so delusional right now.
- Blaxploitation Parody: Crow's script for Chocolate Jones and the Temple of Funk.
- Brainless Beauty: How the gang portray all the women in the gang (not that they make it difficult to believe).Michelle: The question is, what are we going to do about it?Crow: And who brought the brain?
- Call-Back:
- "Great, Mitchell's here!"
- "It's Miles O'Keeffe with breasts!
- "This doesn't do it for me like that similar scene in The Violent Years."
- "This is still going a lot better than the Bay of Pigs invasion."
- Central Theme: As Mike said, it's to park far away & run to the scene of the danger.
- Combat Stilettos: Mike riffs on the Angels' questionable choice of footwear in the opening action sequence.Mike: We shouldn't wear spike-heeled boots on a commando raid.
- Complexity Addiction: The girls' plan to steal ammunition, after they've just purchased a van, outfitted it with weaponry (including a bazooka) and armor.Servo: [puzzled] Can't they just buy ammunition?
- Coincidental Broadcast: "You're listening to K-PLOT."
- Creator Backlash. Mildly. Greydon Clark stated, "Some of the stuff those guys did was very funny, some not so much. The same could be said for my film itself." His only real issue was that the television edit excluded Neville Brand and that he didn't see a penny from the renewed notoriety of the film (thanks to the fact the television rights to the film was independently distributed).
- Creepy Crossdresser: Dr. Forrester maintains his mustache while dressing as female tennis player Billie Jean King.
- Dirty Old Man: How Servo portrays Arthur Godfrey.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When Mike debuts his Fonzie impression, Crow and Servo wisely use extreme measures to discourage him — namely, obliterating him with a cannon, leaving only his scorched leather jacket behind. As they head back to their seats, Mike sadly agrees that they did the right thing.
- Dude, Not Funny!:
- Mike and the Bots' reaction when Terri and Keiko stray into Ethnic Scrappy territory.
Mike: This is offending one-celled animals.- They also seem properly disturbed at how much the teenager seems to enjoy the 'enhanced interrogation:'
Servo: Kids just love genital mutilation. - Excuse Plot: The crew hypothesize that the scene after destroying the drug compound where the ladies are all sitting around in their underwear was the real reason the movie was made.
- Executive Meddling: In-universe example. The ratings of Mystery Science Theater 3000 are dropping, so Dr. Forrester keeps trying to change the format, by him and TV's Frank pretending to be Tug McGraw and Rollie Fingers or Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King, and by turning Mike and the bots into the cast of Renegade.
- Genius Bonus:
- Those aware of the LaRosa incident will find the "You're fired!" and "You have no humility!" riffs even funnier.
- Those with knowledge of the falling out between Peter Lawford and Frank Sinatra will get a few more chuckles, too.
- "It's Dworkin-Fest '78!" is a reference to Andrea Dworkin, who has been accused of being an extreme misandrist.
- Those aware of the LaRosa incident
- Goldfish Poop Gang: Servo's assessment of The American Right led by Jim Backus.Servo: [scoffing] These survivalists couldn't survive a grape embargo!
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!:April: We've got surprise on our side!Servo: And we have THESE!
- In Medias Res:Mike: That... was a long flashback.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet:Servo: It's gorgeous out here. A little too gorgeous.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Subverted despite Crow's insistence to Mike: "I can't believe it—I, Crow T. Robot, have amnesia. I can't remember you, I can't remember Cambot...." Eventually he realizes that what he actually had was Ambrosia. (He then begins singing, "Make a wish, baby!" prompting the others to hit him over the head just to make him stop.)
- Late to the Realization: A good chunk of the way through the movie, Crow realizes:Crow: Hey... This is a lot like Charlie's Angels!
Servo: Yeah! - Lecherous Licking: When the Amazon Brigade resort to this on a mook to get him to let down his guard, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew are less than thrilled.Crow: They're eating his brain!
- Male Gaze: Early in the movie, we get a shot straight up a ladder as a woman is climbing it, and Crow quips "Hey, you're giving away the plot!"
- A short time later Crow admits, to Mike's disappointment:
Crow: All right: you know what? I'm just givin' in and lookin' at the breasts." - Mondegreen Gag:Angel: The turret gun's ready!Mike: The turd gun?! Whatta ya need one of those for??
- Nausea Fuel: Invoked, as Mike and the Bots barf when one of the characters takes off his shirt. Then the whole bit with the Lecherous Licking of villainous ears in that beach scene.
- No Budget: Director: Can we get a real actor in the scene, please?
Servo: [as assistant] That would break the budget, sir. - Promotion to Parent: Michelle had one of these regarding Bobby. We think.Michelle: He won't even tell me who beat him up. The doctor said he was on drugs.Crow [as Michelle]: How am I related to him, again?
- Race Lift: Mike is uncomfortable being the lead in a Blaxploitation film; Crow thinks he's the Don Cornelius of The '90s.
- Raiders of the Lost Parody: "Chocolate Jones..." is a Blaxploitation version of this.
- Recycled Script: Invoked, as Mike notes that Crow's Chocolate Jones and the Temple of Funk is just a Blaxploitation Earth Vs. Soup.
- Rooting for the Empire: Invoked by a weary Crow.Crow: You know, I'm starting to root for the drug dealers.
- Running Gag:
- "Should I shine my love?"
- The ladies' airheadedness. ("It's anonymous!")
- Impersonations of Jack Palance abound. Made even funnier by having him "sing" along to the bubblegum pop hits of the '70s as he drives around.
- The older actors' embarrassing turns in this awful movie, culminating in Servo's invention of the Shame-ometer (or Sha-mom-eter).Mike: [watching Jim Backus as a rather kooky white supremacist] Now I appreciate the quiet dignity of Pat Buttram's performance.Crow: I-I'm just going to look away until the "funny part" is over.
- Self-Parody: The bots' decisive action to end Mike's Fonzie impression is a callback to how his Steve Urkel impression took over all the host segments in San Francisco International.
- The '70s: Apparently, the Mads think '70s pop culture will improve the show's ratings. It actually does, but the effect wears off, and the ratings return to being lower than reruns of The Duck Factory. All of the host segments have something to do with The Seventies.
- During the end credits of Angel's Revenge, Mike and the bots ponder who invented the '70s.
- Share the Male Pain: After the Groin Attack on Sticks, the crew reacts appropriately.Servo: That hurt me!
- Shout-Out:
- Crow's "You know, this is so timely, because angels are real, real popular" could be referencing the obvious series the movie is ripping off but given the year this episode aired, it could very well be referencing another series about angels that had recently debuted.
- As one of the ladies gets thrown into the villains' pool: "It's the cover of the Nirvana album."
- When the drug ringleader gets shot and falls into the pool, Crow squeezes in a Sea Hunt reference: "By this time, my lungs were aching for booze."
- Something Person: "This looks like a job for Girl Woman!"
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Invoked during the upbeat "Shine Your Love" number:Crow: [as a depressed gambler] "I lost twenty thousand dollars!"
- Standard Establishing Spaceship Shot: Aaron Spelling's big-tacular house is given one of these, although we cut away before it can go on too long. It still shakes up the eyecatch as it rumbles past.
- Stock Sound Effects: Lampshaded.Servo: Okay, sound by Hanna-Barbera, fine.
- Thing-O-Meter: Tom Servo's Shame-O-Meter, which measured the embarrassment of talented and/or well-known actors appearing in a bad movie in Lawfords, after Peter Lawford's uninspired turn in Angels Revenge. Forrester and TV's Frank practically break the machine dressing as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.
- This Is Gonna Suck:Crow: All right, y'know what? I'm just giving in, and looking at the breasts.Mike: No, don't...
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: "Do those brightly lit, tight-white-jumpsuit-clad, deeply décolletaged women have anything to do with this?"
- With Lyrics: To the action music, as Trish sprints to Peter Lawford's hilltop mansion: "Running, and running, and running, and really really running, and running, and running, and running, yes, she's running..."
Michelle: "Shine shine, shine your love..."
(Audience member howls.)
(Audience member howls.)
